The Abbott government's efforts to scale back the renewable energy target (RET) have set the industry back 12 years, a Senate estimates hearing has heard.
And the government has told senators it will still pursue the abolition of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), despite accepting advice from the agency on achieving emissions reductions through its direct action policy.
In a hearing on Wednesday, CEFC chief executive Oliver Yates said the agency was reassessing how much it could contribute to Australia's 5 per cent emissions reduction target by 2020 because of uncertainty over the RET.
The government recommended last year that the target for large scale renewable energy be reduced from 41,000 gigawatt hours of baseline power by 2020 to closer to 26,000 gigawatt hours.
The CEFC, which was set up by Labor to invest in low emissions projects, had previously estimated its work could achieve about half of Australia's target but Mr Yates said that forecast would have to be reviewed.
"The level of emissions in relation to the projects we finance obviously is quite dependent upon the projects that we are likely to finance," he said.
"At the moment, we're seeing a change within that as large renewable projects have been slowed down with the RET."
Mr Yates pointed to research by Bloomberg, which found there had been an 88 per cent reduction in projects because investment had stalled while negotiations between the government and Labor were deadlocked.
"The amount of investment within the large sector for renewable energy is about back to the same level it was in 2002," he said.
"So we've gone back about 12 years is where we are now in terms of the current investment that's occurring in large scale renewables whilst the market has no certainty as to the outcome of the RET review."
Mr Yates said the CEFC's work was continuing, despite ongoing uncertainty over its own future.
He said the agency had been in talks with the environment department about how its activities could complement the government's emissions reduction fund, which will pay polluters to reduce their emissions.
But Finance Minister Mathias Cormann told the hearing the government still planned to abolish the CEFC, despite its first attempt failing in the Senate.
"It would be our intention to revisit that at the right and appropriate time so from the government's point of view there hasn't been any change in our policy position," Senator Cormann said.
Greens Senator Christine Milne said it was "odd" that on one hand the government appreciated the expertise of the CEFC, but on the other it was seeking to scrap it.
Saturday will mark six months since the release of the RET review, led by climate sceptic Dick Warburton.
Since then, the government and Labor have been unable to agree on a figure for renewable energy generation.
The Opposition has made some concessions that would see emissions intensive industries such as aluminium fully excluded from any liability under the RET.
Clean energy industry sources say the government has adjusted its position, but has been digging its heels in on a figure in the low thirty-thousands.
Labor and the industry are pushing for a number closer to the mid to high thirties as anything less would devastate the industry and jobs.
Emissions intensive industries will be due to pay their liability under the RET for 2015 in the next month if a deal is not reached in coming weeks.
